I'm a Business, Man

Buy and Sell Bands Online

The stock market's getting boring, and your relationship with your bookie Bruno has become, shall we say, tense. Why not try your hand at the music industry? Even if you don't know trip-hop from hyphy, you can still play record exec to a whole crowd of bands.

Jay-Z, here we come.

Run by a former SONY BMG executive, Sellaband offers discerning ears a chance to cash in on good taste. If you think you've found the next big thing among the bands on the site, you can put your money where your mouth is by purchasing shares in the band and getting a percentage of any records they sell. And if the band doesn't raise enough to record, you get your money back. (Good luck getting that guarantee from Bruno.)

Sellaband keeps weekly charts ranking bands by shares bought, number of buyers, and number of weekly listens, so finding a good bet isn't too hard. Artists run the gamut from New Zealand-born rapper Maitreya to German electro-popper Kirt. As for the Scandinavian throat-singers, it's sort of a niche taste.

So far only two bands have sold enough shares to start reaping profits, but the numbers keep growing. At best, you'll scoop up the next Bowie while he's still young and hungry. At worst, you'll scoop up the next Jermaine Jackson.